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Sometimes he wondered if he even enjoyed the games at all anymore. That was the problem with diving too deeply into a passion. Become an expert in something you love, and then suddenly what you love doesn’t look the same. You want to fix the flaws. You want to create your own.
The only time he could play a game like he used to, was when he was with someone. Then he didn’t seem to see the code, he just saw the game. Like playing with someone else allowed him to stop thinking for a minute and just enjoy, seeing it through their eyes.
He really liked playing with Kayli. She didn’t take the games seriously, and joked through the whole thing. This afternoon, while they were waiting to hear from anyone about Wil, they played a whole two hours of Minecraft. Their characters died a million times, and she only laughed.
He smiled thinking of that. A few days ago, she’d been angry and lashed out, untrusting of any of them. While she was worried about her brother, Corey had told her that he had to be fine, because he was being spotted at school. It was just a matter of time. She relaxed at this. It was a good sign. She was starting to trust him.
The scrape of metal against the door brought Corey out of his game-induced trance. Numbers started to clear, and the code disappeared until he was back in reality.
He saw Axel coming through the door and paused his game.
Axel locked up behind himself, turned and then tilted his head at Corey. “Something going on?” Axel asked.
Corey shook his head. “No.”
“You’re up late.”
“So are you.”
Axel pursed his lips, nodding. “Hey,” he said. He motioned with his hand, pointing to his bedroom. “Can we talk for a second? It’s been a while.”
Corey studied Axel for a moment and then stood.
Axel continued on, opening the door, and allowing Corey inside.
Corey avoiding looking at all the creepy crawlies inside Axel’s bedroom. They grossed him out.
“Have a seat,” Axel said, closing the door behind him.
Corey’s heart started to race. He swallowed, avoiding Axel’s eyes. This sounded more serious than just a chat, and Corey could only imagine what Axel was thinking. They hadn’t talked alone since they’d returned from Florida. Corey had filled him in on the events, but it was in front of everyone else. Some of the finer details, like Blake’s appearance were still a little sketchy.
He hadn’t asked Kayli for details but got the gist. Somehow they connected, and Kayli used him to try to find out more about the Academy.
It was Corey’s own fault, because she’d tried to ask, and he knew he couldn’t give full answers. It was impossible to do so. The Academy isn’t something you just ask about and get a straight answer. You have to live it to understand. It wasn’t difficult, it just took time.
Corey stood by the desk in the middle of the room, checking the notes scribbled over the start of a new notebook.
Axel crossed his arms over his chest, leaning back against the door frame, looking at Corey. “Why did you take Kayli to Florida?”
That was it? Corey shrugged. “I mentioned I was going. She asked to come along.”
“You encouraged her?”
“No,” Corey said. “I didn’t even say what I was doing. I just mentioned I was going to Florida and thought she may want to hang out with someone else. She perked up and asked if she could tag along.”
“Didn’t she want to stay for Wil?”
“She asked if we’d get back in time to meet Wil on Monday. At the time, I was pretty sure we’d get back the same day. We didn’t know it’d turn into World War III.”
Axel’s lips pursed and he nodded. “They aren’t happy.”
Corey didn’t need to ask. Checking in was a normal part of Academy life. It was good the Academy had their backs, but it also meant teams were scrutinized.
Being the type of group that they were, they had to expect some suggestions for improvement. “Uh-oh,” Corey said.
“Uh-oh is right,” Axel said. He moved toward one of the fish tanks he had on a table. He leaned over, studying the tiny things swimming around inside. “She’s cost us several favors.”
“How many?”
“Let’s just say, it’s lucky we’ve got such a surplus. A normal group couldn’t afford the favors.” He stood, smiled. “Good thing we earned more than enough in Florida to cover the cost of that and her adoption.”
The favor cost for a closed adoption was high, but continuing to take the person on assignments, like the Florida debacle, cost a lot more, especially if it was dangerous. It was the price of trying to recruit anyone and taking deep risks. The Academy had to take extra steps to cover up for someone who didn’t understand the rules. The higher the risk, like a shootout, earned and took favors alike, depending on who was there.
Corey remained still by Axel’s desk. His fingers were touching the notebook but he wasn’t reading, just looking at it. “She didn’t know.”
“You did,” Axel said. He inched closer, nearly standing beside Corey. “We should have sent her back. She wasn’t ready for this. She probably has the wrong idea about us now.”
“She’s the one that discovered the truth about Fred.”
“We would have found out.”
Corey shook his head. “I was getting the runaround. Harry didn’t have a clue, and his grandmother was manipulating him to believe it was just a Ponzi scheme. I might have been there for a while, not thinking to look deeper. We were looking at the wrong spot from the start. We’re lucky Kayli got the mail and spotted the envelope.”
“But the moment learned the truth, you should have known better,” Axel said, his eyes darkening. “You kept her with you. You could have put her on a bus back home.”
“How come you didn’t?” Corey asked, looking up and meeting Axel’s face. He didn’t like Axel’s suggestion. Like Corey was deliberately putting Kayli in danger, or trying to cost their team in favors. “Weren’t you the one who had her following you around when you got there?”
“So I could keep an eye on her,” Axel said.
“Worked out great, didn’t it? She almost ended up in jail.”
“Not with me. It seems I have to keep her next to me. Everyone else gives in to her plans, her suggestions.” Axel sighed. “It’s like she’s trying to take over. And everyone jumps in and follows along.”
Corey grunted. “You don’t get it. She feels like she’s part of this team, now. She needs this.”
“She needs to get over it,” Axel said.
“She’s scared,” Corey said. “We’re all she has. You should have seen it when she came back after Marc and Brandon were arrested. She was terrified of the police.”
“They’re not going to hurt her.”
“She doesn’t know that,” Corey said.
Axel grunted, shaking his head. He moved to the bed and sat, rubbing his face.
“What’s wrong?” Corey asked.
Axel motioned to the window. “Now there’s Blake Coaltar who thinks we’ve buddied up. Now she probably thinks it’s okay to connect with him. Why the hell did you call him?”
Corey pressed his lips together. This was the heart of the discussion, he felt it. The problem was, he really shouldn’t lie to Axel, or any of them. He didn’t want to betray Kayli, either. Kayli was worried they wouldn’t trust her if they knew she’d used him to dig out information about the Academy.
He’d done the same thing, and it’d nearly cost him his career inside the Academy. You can’t get in if you don’t trust them. That’s the rule.
Axel huffed and shook his head. “I don’t get it.”
“Why isn’t it okay?” Corey asked. “I mean, he did help. I wouldn’t have let him if I didn’t think…”
“Because he—” Axel’s voice had risen, but stopped short. He lowered his tone, but it was still severe. “He could take her from us. He’s got more to offer her.”
Corey shook his head. “She didn’t like him before. She yelled at him w
hile…during…”
Axel shook his head slowly. “We’re a mess with her,” he said. “She’s needed to get away before and we keep dragging her back. She could see him as a method of getting away from us, but then he could…”
“I involved her,” Corey said. “She stuck with us. She’s here with us now.”
“She’s going to be looking for dirt,” Axel said. “Her father lied to her, and her brother is acting up. Now she’s going to be testing us at every minute, trying to see if we hold up. And we’re the worst group to be digging around.”
“That’s the past,” Corey said.
Axel pointed to the door. “We were shooting the shit out of things, and damaged who knows how much property. How do you think that looks to her? To Blake, who was there for nearly the whole time? We’re a bunch of hypocrites to her now. And he’s going to feed her lies just to get her on his side.”
“We don’t care about him, do we?”
“She does,” Axel said.
Corey frowned, turned his head. He didn’t like Blake. The moment he saw that car, the window rolled down and Blake’s head poking out, he’d wanted to nab Kayli and run the other direction. After, when Kayli seemed really upset that Corey was mad at her, he felt she must have really cared about what he was thinking. To him, that proved she cared about him.
And then there was how she’d asked him to go out with her.
Corey had said okay. He thought she was joking at first, but she was always hanging on to him, getting close. When he asked her private things and she started to open up, she’d looked too beautiful and happy around him. She didn’t tell him about Blake, but he was making progress with discovering her distrust about the Academy. That’s when he realized what she needed the most. She didn’t really trust unless she had proof you were there no matter what. But even then, she’d test you at every possible angle, trying to find out for sure.
Maybe if he’d talked to her sooner, he would have prevented Blake from even being in the picture. He just hadn’t had the time.
Axel leaned his head over, catching Corey out of his swirl of thoughts. “What?”
“Nothing,” Corey said quickly.
